Simple Words
by Taisi
Summary: She couldn't look at him- she couldn't believe she'd said those things to his face. How could she tell him she loved him after he'd had to save her from three rogues? What gave her the nerve? She could only tremble and wait. NaruHina


**My other Naru/Hina oneshot **_**Freefalling **_**inspired me to write this one. I hope you like it, even if it is a little rushed…-shifty gaze- Eh…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. There. Just, just rub it in.**

_Simple Words_

She walked quietly through the forest, unafraid of the dark and shadows. Her pale eyes hugged the ground as she stepped lightly passed protruding roots and ducked low-hanging branches. The moonlight embraced her, and the darkness sent chills running up her spine. She loved walks like these; silent, just her and nature. Nature was someone who wouldn't get mad at her for all her many failures; therefore she spent as much time outdoors as was possible.

Her feet made no sound on the padded earth, and she made her way to her favorite spot; a clearing with a large rock in the middle where she could sit and gaze up at the unconcealed stars.

She sat atop the large rock hugging her knees to her chest, eyes trained upon the star scattered sky.

A twig snapped behind her; she looked back over her shoulder into the shadowed alcove of trees on her every side. Trying to calm herself, she forced her eyes upward once more, and slowly her thoughts strayed.

When she woke up, it was almost morning; the skies were streaked with oranges and purples, and several birds were beginning their song.

_I...I fell asleep..._She rubbed at her eyes, yawning widely. She smiled up at the slightly dark sky, and slid off her perch on the boulder. As she trotted away from the large rock and back into the darkened shadow of the trees, she tensed; the back of her neck prickled, and she paused anxiously. When only the wind whistling through the leaves greeted her, she berated herself for imagining things and continued on her way.

There—she heard it again.

Masked by the sound of her own walking, was someone else's footfalls; the steps were hurried and broke off suddenly when she stopped, so she took this to mean that whoever was following her didn't want her to know that they were.

Testing, she sprinted a few more yards, and then slowed to a sudden stop. There was an answered crash in the brush of the forest when someone else didn't stop quite so gracefully.

Hinata bit her lip, ready to cry. Someone was—yes, this rings true—stalking her. This explained the strange silence; the animals' noises had stopped. Hinata wished desperately she'd though to listen for that—she began to panic, whipsawing her head this way and that, too frightened to use her Byakugan; saving someone else was almost easy, but in a situation of personal distress, she found herself hesitating.

And five minutes later, not three miles from the open gates of Konohagakure, she was cornered in a darker section of the forest. Three men—probably rogue ninja—pressed in closer to her from all sides, until Hinata had pressed herself against the trunk of a very large oak. The trunk of said oak was so large that all three men could surround her—and she wouldn't be able to duck around to the tree's other side and make a run for it. She was fighting back tears, and trembling from head to toe, clenching her small fists hard enough to make them shake.

The men were obviously enjoying her distress. They sneered and mocked her and carried on in such a fashion for almost three minutes before any of them made a move. The first man, obviously the leader, reached out with deliberate movement and stroked a longer strand of hair out of Hinata's face, lengthening the moment by stroking his fingers down her cheek, down her neck.

"You shouldn't play in the wood s after dark, little girl," he whispered. Hinata clenched her eyes shut and cried softly under her breath.

But before anything else could happen, a hiss of metal rank out and the man yanked his hand back away from the heir of the Hyuuga clan. A kunai embedded itself in the ground in front of him, a thin line of blood sparkling on its smoothed surface. The man stared down at his arm to find a long bleeding cut, from his elbow to his wrist.

"Leave her alone, you bastards," a furious voice snarled from somewhere above them. And just as they glanced up, a blue-eyed, blonde-haired youth dropped from one of the higher branches of a neighboring tree and landed smartly in between Hinata and her pursuers. He raised his arms in an X so that his face was framed in the top V part; fingers closed around three kunai to each hand. His head was bowed slightly, so he had to look up through his brow at them, eyes flashing with outrage. "How dare you touch Hinata-chan!"

The first man—loathe to be made a fool of in front of his posse—roared and let fly a dozen shuriken in the Genin's direction. He had horrible aim, because one glanced off the tree trunk, another fell to the ground short a foot of Naruto, and the only one on course was deflected easily. The blonde boy sneered at him, "That the best you got?"

The ringleader's men launched themselves at the boy, who smirked. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Instantly the surrounding area was full of up to twenty or thirty Narutos.

Needless to say, the fight was finished quickly. Hinata watched as Naruto (forgive my crude wording) beat the crap out of the opposing men. Once the last one fell, he dusted off his hands and his clones disappeared in several poofs of smoke. "What jerks," he muttered disdainfully. "But you're safe now, Hinata-cha—" He spun to face her and broke off immediately.

The girl was finally crying. She brought her hands to her eyes and rubbed away at the tears that just continued to fall. "I-I always need saving!" she sobbed, voice breaking. "I-I'm never strong enough on my own! Wh-Why am I s-such a f-failure?"

She would have kept on crying, if she'd not been caught suddenly by the shoulders. Naruto thrust his face into hers and said quite seriously, "You're one of the toughest girls I've ever met." Seeing Hinata was stunned out of her tears for the time being, he continued, "Neji told me what the Hyuuga clan is like. I don't like it. You keep at it, though. Kiba tells me about how determined you are to get stronger." Naruto smiled helpfully, eyes closing into introverted Us ((HA! Naruto did the Kakashi U-eyes!! ... )). "And that says a lot in my book. You're worth more than you act like, Hinata. It's time you show all that you're worth, and stop skimming over the surface."

Hinata's eyes were wide, and she said nothing; there was a long stretch of silence as she digested this news. _Naruto-kun…things I'm tough? He…thinks I'm determined?...That I'm…worth something? _

And for some reason, and not for the first time, a single word of encouragement from Naruto overwrote all the doubting ones she'd received from her clan.

She was crying again, muttering, "Thank you, Naruto-kun" over and over again; and suddenly her words became "I love you Naruto-kun". She was just as surprised as he was when those came out.

Seeing him staring at her, she blushed furiously, face a crimson red. "A-Ah, n-no, wha-what I…Th-That is, Naruto-kun, I don't—I mean I do—_I don't—"_

"This…explains a lot," Naruto said thoughtfully, not even looking at the flustered girl.

"A-Ah, gom-gomen! I d-didn't—"

But then he was smiling her favorite lop-sided smile, and the hands locked on her shoulders relaxed, and slid past her shoulder blades; she was being pulled into a warm embrace. Her eyes widened even further, and she gasped, "Na-Naruto-k-kun?"

"Everyone thinks I love Sakura-chan," were the words she received. "Even I thought I did. But I know that she loves Sasuke-teme; and that somewhere, he loves her back." Hinata realized she was hearing what he'd never told anyone before. "It…It's really hard, being alone. I mean, really alone. Because when all your friends go home, you're left with an empty house, you know?" The blonde boy forced a chuckle, and Hinata felt her heart constrict painfully. She slowly, tentatively, brought her own arms up around him; when he did nothing to dissuade her, she curled her hands into fists again, this time clenching the back of his orange jumpsuit, and buried her face in his shoulder. "So basically, what I think I'm saying is, I love you too, Hinata-chan."

_Where did _that _come from?_

"Heh…guess I should've started with that, eh?"

Hinata let out a watery chuckle; Naruto hugged her closer, and she smiled into his neck. _Naruto-kun._

---

Sakura sighed, throwing her arms up. "I give up! There's absolutely nothing for me to do!"

Ino rolled her eyes, and finished rearranging the tulips on the counter. "You could help me with chores," she offered without looking up.

"Thanks, but _no. _You always correct me when I try to help out here."

"That's because you do everything _wrong! _Go find a date and have lunch or something. Now get out of my store!"

Sakura skipped out the door, calling a goodbye over her shoulder, and then let out a lung-full of air. Racking her brains, she thought up a list of eligible candidates of boys to take with her to lunch, Sasuke being at the top of the list. She crossed him off her mental poster, realizing he'd never say yes to a random lunch invite, and was about to move on to Number Two (Lee), when she saw a familiar blonde-haired Genin rushing down the street towards her. _Maybe he's come to ask _me _to lunch! _she thought triumphantly, and stopped walking, expecting him to stop as well.

But he blitzed on by her with a shouted, "Morning, Sakura-chan!"

She blinked, surprised. "Ah, wait, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto skidded to a stop and glanced over his shoulder at her. "Eh? What is it?"

She smiled seductively, batting her eyelashes at him. "Would you like to take me to lunch, Naruto-kuuuuun?" she asked in a teasing tone, all ready choosing where they would eat.

The reply was immediate, but not the one she'd been expecting: "Eh, no. I'm meeting Hinata at Ichiraku's (sp)." He held up a fat green frog wallet. "He, he! See ya later, Sakura-chan?" And he ran the length of the street, and disappeared around the corner.

Sakura was left alone in the middle of the street, staring after him with her mouth slightly ajar. _Naruto…turned _me _down?...For Hinata?_

**Ha! Sakura-teme got dissed! LOSER!! It's what you get for being mean to my Naru-chan! HMPH! –huffs and turns away—Hope you enjoyed it! This **_**was **_**a one-shot. Thanks for reading! Please review!**


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